yarmo
Well-Known Member
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- #1
I recently shifted my spare tire to be higher on my tire carrier to accommodate a new rear bumper, and I lost almost all visibility out of my rear view mirror. So to fix that issue I installed a digital rear view mirror that also doubles as a dash camera! This is the mirror I went with. There are some out there that are more expensive and some that are less, but I chose this one because it's almost exactly the same width as the factory one, so you can still open and shut the sun visors normally.
I have a JL with the SOT top and ACC, so your install may be different than mine. Here's a good video on the general removal of a rear view mirror without my setup. The process is basically the same with the SOT / ACC, but the first thing you need to do is remove the 4 plastic screws and plugs from around the ACC cover trim.
Then pop off the little vented cover in front of the panel you just removed the screws from (two clips on the top). After that you can do what the above video mentions and pull down on the top trim.
Again, follow the video instructions and use a screwdriver to twist your rear view mirror to the left to pop it out. Then disconnect the wiring harness if yours is equipped with one.
Here's where the process got tricky - the camera I bought did not come with a mount that would fit the JL. Their "Chrysler" mount was not setup to work with a JL at all, so I had to 'aggressively' modify one of the mounts they sent. If you look up from where you just took the rear view mirror out, you'll see 3 torx bolts holding the factory rear view mirror mount. I removed the 3 of those then modified the supplied mount you would normally glue to the windshield to screw into the center hole. I did my best to bore it out enough to fit one of the torx bolts under where the new mirror would slide into it.
Here's where I mounted it next to the factory mount for reference. I stacked 5 washers on top of this to get it to mount a little further under the trim. If you don't use a bunch of washers you won't have clearance to adjust or move the mirror at all due to it hitting the trim.
After you get the mount tightened down, you will probably have to snip a few pieces of plastic trim around the mirror mount in order for the SOT / ACC trim to clear it. After that it's as simple as running the wiring to ACC / Battery power (this required BOTH to be run for some reason and would not turn on if not done so!!), then running the wiring / mounting the rear camera.
This is a much better alternative to having 0 rearview visibility!
I have a JL with the SOT top and ACC, so your install may be different than mine. Here's a good video on the general removal of a rear view mirror without my setup. The process is basically the same with the SOT / ACC, but the first thing you need to do is remove the 4 plastic screws and plugs from around the ACC cover trim.
Then pop off the little vented cover in front of the panel you just removed the screws from (two clips on the top). After that you can do what the above video mentions and pull down on the top trim.
Again, follow the video instructions and use a screwdriver to twist your rear view mirror to the left to pop it out. Then disconnect the wiring harness if yours is equipped with one.
Here's where the process got tricky - the camera I bought did not come with a mount that would fit the JL. Their "Chrysler" mount was not setup to work with a JL at all, so I had to 'aggressively' modify one of the mounts they sent. If you look up from where you just took the rear view mirror out, you'll see 3 torx bolts holding the factory rear view mirror mount. I removed the 3 of those then modified the supplied mount you would normally glue to the windshield to screw into the center hole. I did my best to bore it out enough to fit one of the torx bolts under where the new mirror would slide into it.
Here's where I mounted it next to the factory mount for reference. I stacked 5 washers on top of this to get it to mount a little further under the trim. If you don't use a bunch of washers you won't have clearance to adjust or move the mirror at all due to it hitting the trim.
After you get the mount tightened down, you will probably have to snip a few pieces of plastic trim around the mirror mount in order for the SOT / ACC trim to clear it. After that it's as simple as running the wiring to ACC / Battery power (this required BOTH to be run for some reason and would not turn on if not done so!!), then running the wiring / mounting the rear camera.
This is a much better alternative to having 0 rearview visibility!
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